Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 257 WBY - Real World Hunting Experiences

One thing I will point out... a number of friends and myself and wife were all big time bowhunters. Still gun hunt and such but bow makes you think differently RE shot placement.

That being said none of us are shoulder shooters.

4 of us now have 257s. Run 100 ttsx warm. Probably shot close to 40-50 deer with them now. No deer over say 165 pounds live weight.

Not a single deer was gut shot.
Not a single deer dropped at the shot.
Every last deer had both lungs hit in one part or another.
No shots over about 250 yards yet.

Only one deer made about 80 yards after the hit, the others almost all were pretty much 30 steps away in the brush.

Never retained a bullet and don't expect to.

Blood trails starting are not great. And don't get stupendous, but when the deer is generally pretty close you don't need it that good.

Point is, it works VERY well, and its very flat, and pretty decent in the wind too. But if its bang flops and blood trails you are looking for, larger caliber, more explosive bullets, but basically down to shot location.

Funny part the few times I have shoulder shot deer, it was generally a 243 or 308 and the are DRT there too.

Just my 2 cents.

Love the round though. Use 7 RMag brass.

Sometimes, actions speak louder than words-
Here is one of my best mulie bucks, taken with my .257 Wby. Mk. V. Fibermark.

In a race with most other cartridges with similar weight slugs, the 257 Weatherby will always win. They will reach out and touch things. Personally though, I stop using mine when targets exceed deer size. A great round.

My wife has a custom mark V with a Swarovski scope and McMillan classic stock. She has killed impala, warthog, bushpig and one zebra. The zebra was about 125 yards and was DRT. She was shooting 115 tsx at 3300 fps. The shot was through both shoulders and the spine. No bullet recovery. I have a Bansner custom coming in this same caliber. It is an awesome small caliber that kills like a larger caliber might. Look on you tube at 2012 bushpig hunt. I was doing the filming and wife was shooting. It will give you an idea of what to expect. It was a 60 yard shot. I like this round a lot. More people are using this round and brass, etc is more available because of demand.

No personal experience with the round, though my brother has one that he's taken several deer with. None have gone more than a few feet, but at least two were neck shots!
Strikes me that at some point it is the same as a 25-06 a bit closer, like 100 yards closer.
Given that, my brother's is very accurate ( a consistent .600 shooter) and kicks about like a 270. (I like it a lot, just haven't built one, yet!)

Shot this Pronghorn in October,2012, with 257 WM

I started hunting with a .257 last year. So far, I love it. Shot 3 deer at 300 yards, all DRT. Shot a small Black Bear (175 pounds) under 75 yards and he went about 50 yards before he went down. The 110 AccuBond shoots great in my rifle. I am using Nosler (Norma) brass.

I have killed around 400 animals with this cartridge and loaded for 3 Mark V's and 1 Vanguard.

In thr 70's thru 80's, i liked 100gn Solid Bases and 115gn Partitions. Also liked 100gn Hornady's. Into the '80's, i tried a lot of 87gn Hornady's which were instant and consistent killers plus the 120gn Partitions plus a hunch of others.

It is hard to make a bad choice for deer sized game and easy to find a heavier bullet for larger game.
John

I've been using this round 115gr since 2001 on deer and antelope. A very good round for plains game, considering average shot distance.

Stuff I killed w/ the .257 Wby:

With 80gr TTSX @ 3700 fps:







With 115gr VLD at about 3400 fps:





I like the round. Shoots amazingly flat and really hits hard with very tolerable recoil. Mine was very accurate too. A little hard on barrels though...



John

As I recall Dr Carlo Caldesi (I am pretty sure that is the name) a Weatherby Award winner hunted with one exclusively except for dangerous game. As I remember he had a very long string of 1 shot kills.

I have owned 3 or 4 .257 Wea. I suppose they have killed 20 head of deer and antelope..Plus numerous coyotes and a couple of sheep.. For 400 yard plus shooting, I like more bullet dia. and wt., but it is a wonderful caliber..I have a Douglas air ga. barrel chambered for the .257 Weatherby..May just have to put it on an action before fall..As mule deer said, I made my last cases from other brass..I used .264's because I had a bunch of them..

I'm still going to keep my 25-06AI,cheaper to load ammo and not very much fps lost to the Weatherby.

I have heard this argument many times as have you.

What I have never heard is what you bought from the proceeds of these savings?

I struggle with this logic as I am alas, not a powder conservationist.

I have owned three .257 Weatherbys, a Mk-V, a Jarrett-rebarreled Ruger No1, and the current Accumark. All have been very accurate (I won't post the Ruger's groups as I don't want to be called a liar) but the Mk-V is long gone. I used the rifles on Alaskan caribou and Kodiak Island blacktails out to ~350 yards and the cartridge kills those animals wonderfully. Unlike some posters though, I don't have a string of "DRTs" since that term is ambiguous at best. None hit by the .257 went more than 30 yards and most went a lot less.

Bullet type matters to game reaction, the copper bullets seem to kill a bit more slowly as one would expect them too with their smaller expanded diameter. I have used the Hornady 120HP for most of the game shot with the .257 and see no need to change (I don't use the .257 on elk or moose so a "premium" bullet isn't needed IME). Like so many have found, 68 grains of IMR7828 with an F215 works great with 117-120 grain bullets.

While there are no flies on the .25-06 or its improved version, they simply are not .257 Weatherbys. End of argument.

.

Have owned three 25-06's all were nice shooting guns (T3, A7 and lastly a Finnlight) but I really wanted a 257 weatherby mag. Now I have a new BackCountry and love it, accurately shooting 100 gr. eTips at 3500+ with out pushing it hard (not a max load). Cant wait till season!!

Fats asked me to post these. He shoots the 80 gr TTSX in his .257 roy.